October 2009
by DateMe
Summary: Entries for the fanfiction section of the October contest. Entries listed in order of submission. Challenge: Haunting Allure, Pairing: ShikaHina.
1. Under Their Spell by heavenlyhot

**Title:** Under Their Spell  
**Author:** heavenlyhot  
**Rating:** T/PG-13  
**Theme:** Haunting Allure  
**Pairing:** ShikaHina

We ask that you PLEASE refrain from reviewing this story here. If you would like to do so, please visit heavenlyhot's DA personal profile.

October 31st, a day that was meant to be filled with little children lining the streets in their cute looking costume asking for for candy. It was also a day for those who were deemed to old to trick or treat to prank others.

But today it was something else. Three close friends got together to help cure their best friend of her crippling shyness and finally confess her feelings towards her long, long, seriously long time crush, Naruto.

While Hinata was helping set up the Halloween party her friends, Sakura, Tenten and Ino went shopping for the candy and to pick up the balloons they reserved a week before.

"I'm going to be the hottest one there." Ino stated while flicking her long blond hair over her slim shoulders, a smug smile on her face. Tenten rolled her chocolate coloured eyes, knowing that Ino was just baiting Sakura.

Sakura snorted, "Oh yeah Ino, you're the hottest, hottest when you're among your own kind... the pigs. Inopig, Queen of the Swine." Sakura said while running her hand through her shoulder length strawberry pink hair.

Ino glared at Sakura through her crystal blue eyes, "Shut up Forehead Girl. Look up there, is it a plane? No! Is it a bird? Hardly! Oh no, run. It's Forehead Girl. She's going to crush us with her massive forehead." Ino cried out melodramatically.

Tenten suppressed a laugh, why these two were friends. Suddenly Tenten was shoved as Sakura tackled Ino, reaching to make sure her Chinese styled buns were still done up something caught her eye.

"What's that?" Tenten asked her two, screeching, insulting, friends who stopped to follow Tenten's.

"I have no idea," Sakura said before moving her hand which was coving Ino's mouth, letting Ino finally breath.

"I've never seen it before, odd isn't it?" Ino said before looking up at the pink haired girl on top of her, "Sakura, get the hell off me. Your fat knee is breaking my ribs."

Suddenly the little shop was the last thing on the two girls mind as Sakura heard the insult and continued her assault on Ino. "Inopig. Inopig. INOPIG!"

"I'm going to take a look," Tenten said and started to walk off to the shop.

Suddenly, at lightening speed her two, formerly fighting, friends were standing beside her.

"Look at the place Ten, it doesn't look like a good place at all." Ino said with a hand of Tenten's shoulder.

"Yeah Ten, it looks like the type of place that grabs all the young beautiful girls and keeps them in the basement." Sakura paused and then smirked, "Inopig should be safe then."

Ino's eyes became slits, "Why you bit-"

"It sells love spells." Tenten said in a hurry in order to stop another fight. Suddenly their insults forgotten Ino and Sakura's eyes widened. "Where!?" They said in unison.

"Right there... under 'How to Make Your Enemy Your Slave for Life'." Tenten pointed it out.

"Let's go Ten," Ino said while grabbing her hand. "Yeah Ten, don't drag us down, let's go. Besides it might only look that way because it's Halloween." Sakura added while pushing her from behind.

Though Ino and Sakura were right, the place was dark and shabby. The paint on the windows spelled 'Redrum' and there were spider webs forming around the door.

If it is just decorations, Tenten believed they did an amazing job.

Standing in front of the door Ino pushed it open and something fell from the web above and landed on Ino's hand. "That's just stupid," Ino scoffed, "You can tell it's fake."She brushed it off and the giant black and white spider fell to the floor.

As the three girls entered the shop none of them saw the giant spider climbing up the post back to his web.

While looking around the shop they were amazed at how real everything looked. There were hands in jars, eyeballs, lumps of hair, puppy tails, newt eyes, demon fingernails, a cat fetus, a whole shop of the super creepy.

But Ino and Sakura were busy looking at the book section, 'Eternal Love', 'You Belong to ME!', 'Control Your Fate and Everyone Else's' most of the books were about about love but one caught Ino's sharp eyes.

Grabbing the thinnest of books, no more the two inches wide, and covered in more dust then the others, Ino let out a gasp. "Ten, Sakura. Come here."

Tenten tore her eyes away from an old mirror to look at Ino, "What? Did you finally find something to make Sasuke love you?"

Sakura laughed, "Sasuke could never love a pig." A book went flying at Sakura and hit her in the forehead.

"Wow Sakura, You couldn't move you massive forehead out the wayin time." Ino stopped, remembering she was meant to be doing something, "Oh right, no I found something for Hina." Ino said with a large smile forming on her lips.

Tenten, a little worried, walked over. Her reflection, still in the mirror, smiled. Large fanged teeth showed and her nice brown eyes glowed red. Sakura glanced as she walked past and let out a shriek.

Tenten and Ino looked at her, the image was gone, "Sorry. I just looked in the mirror."

"Figures," Ino said, "I do the same thing when I see you everyday."

Sakura didn't say anything back, a little confused as what she just saw.

"But you guys need to look at this." Ino held up the small book. 'Become Overcomed With Passion.'

"What about it Ino?" Tenten looked.

"We can get Hinata to be so overcome with her feelings for Naruto that she'll finally kiss him."

"That's a great idea Ino." Sakura said. "Do we need anything or is it just words?"

"Words, thankfully."

"Right, lets pay for it and go." Tenten said, then noticing there was no one else other then the tree of them.

"Ooooor we could just borrow it and return it later." Ino whispered and Sakura giggled, "Great idea Ino."

"Sure why not." Tenten said with a smile which turned to a frown, "Oh right I know why not, because it's called stealing."

Ino looked at Sakura and the two of them dashed for the door leaving Tenten behind.

"Crap! You two!" She ran out after them. "We need the balloons!"

There was an eerie laugh that echoed through the store as it slowly disappeared.

Hinata looked around, she remembered when she was young and dressed up every Halloween for fun. She still had picture of herself wearing a cute fluffy bunny costume. Tonight she was wearing costume in the spirit of the Christmas holiday coming up.

"You have flour in your hair." A sudden voice caused Hinata to jump, she turned to the person. "W-What?"

"Here," Shikamaru reached up with a wet cloth he was carrying and wiped the flour out of her long dark indigo hair. A light pink blush scattered across her pale face.

Shikamaru was being made to help out by their friend Ino, he was normally lazy but today made an effort and help Hinata out with putting up the banner and streamers., even making the bat cookies.

She could fell the slight wetness from the cloth seeping through her her tightly pulled back hair. "Thank you S-Shikamaru." She smiled before going into the kitchen to grab the cookies.

Shikamaru watched her go, her high pony tailed hair swinging back and forth. "Why don't you just ask her out?" Came the booming voice of a blonde boy who suddenly appeared beside him.

"It's too troublesome," Shikamaru muttered to Naruto whose bright blue eyes looked at him with humor.

"What are you talking about Shika? Does she like someone else?" Naruto jabbed Shikamaru in the ribs with his elbow. He sighed, if only Naruto knew.

"A-Alright I'm g-going. I-I need to p-put out the pumpkin a-at home." Hinata smiled, her pale pastel purple eyes shining with happiness. Shikamaru always knew she loved this time of the year.

He watched her walk out of the hall. Hinata had a bounce in her step. Though her friends believe Hinata had a crippling shyness Shikamaru had to disagree. Over the last few years Hinata had really come out of her shell. No more super baggy clothes, though she still wears slight baggy jumpers and shirt but he doesn't blame her, if he was her he's hide away those breast aswell. The old men jabbing each other when ever she passed...

Today she was wearing a light blue jacket and long fitting black jeans that flared a little at the bottom.

He on the other hand was wearing a long sleeved white collared old dress shirt, with the first few buttons undone, and long combat jeans.

Naruto smiled, "You so like her." Shikamaru rolled his, "What are you going as tonight? I'm going as a Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle." Naruto thrust his fist into the air, "Can you believe it?"

"Yes. You been a turtle for the last three years." Naruto rolled his eyes, "Well duh, because there are FOUR ninja turtles. Geez, I thought you were smart. So what are you going as?"

"The world's worse nightmare." Shikamaru answered.

Naruto screwed up his face in deep thought, and then suddenly he shouted, "Sakura, Ino."

Shikamaru thought for a second "... Close."

"And Tenten. Hey they're back."

Suddenly just by seeing the grinning Ino and smiling Sakura Shikamaru knew something would go down tonight. He just hoped that it didn't ruin Hinata's efforts for the party.

010

Three hours later people were dancing and drinking and eating.

Hinata finally turned up. Her arms covered by the sleeves of her under shirt were coloured red and white, her legs were the same with her socks. Her head had a green Christmas hat on with a tiny bell at the end, her green shirt and shorts were hemmed with little stars and her shoes curled up and also had tiny bells.

A smile twitched at his lips, never did he think he would see Hinata Hyuuga dressed as an elf.

Right behind her was Ino, Sakura and Tenten. Ino and Sakura were both dressed as witches.

Just not scary witches... with long knee high black socks and black high heels, short mini black skirts and tight black shirts, long black coats and a black witch hat. Their brooms had Hello Kitty sitting at the end instead of a black cat.

Tenten was clearly the white witch, she wore short heels, knee length skirt and a V-neck white shirt, a long white coat and a a white witches hat. Her broom? She didn't bring one.

Hinata made her way over to him, "H-Hi," and then, "Y-You didn't d-dress up?" Her eyes assessing his clothes.

He wore the same shirt, same pants, his hair was in the same style being all spiked up at the end. "I did. I came as a human." Hinata smiled. At least she got it.

While they were talking neither of the noticed Ino and Sakura moving people out the way so they could light a candle.

"Why," Ino called to Sakura over the music, "Why are we doing this here again?"

"Because they'll think it's just part of the whole witch theme."

Tenten stood to the side watching her two friends shove people and draw a circle.

She sighed, the things she goes along with.

Suddenly Ino lighted the candle and called Tenten over.

People gathered around them and Sakura handed Tenten and Ino a piece of paper, a copy of what to say.

They started:

ssik elgnis a htiw

noissap ym uoy wohs em tel

htrof tsrub ti tel

em ni elbbub noissap ym tel

uoy dnuora ,uoy htiw ,uoy ot esolc

leef I gnihtemos ,noissap

niap fo tuo gniyrc traeh ym

niks ym snrub hcuot a

ssik elgnis a htiw uoy ni tsol

teews os neeb reven sah gninword

rednu su sgard ti ,noissap

A sudden cry of "You're the man Shikamaru" coming from Naruto caused people to look over.

Shikamaru and Hinata were kissing.

Ino and Sakura looked at each other, "Oh... oops." While Tenten could only stare with sheer horror, this was not going to way they planned. Oh poor Hinata.

It started with everyone's back to them. Hinata had turned to see what was going on and then she heard her friends voices, chanting.

Shikamaru grabbed her and turned her around to face him. He gave her a gentle peck on her pale pink lips and Hinata didn't pull back, she could feel something pushing her on.

When he went to pulled away Hinata pushed herself forward, the kiss didn't last very long but when they pulled away Hinata felt an intensity blow her away. How she have not seen how amazing he was before?

Suddenly he grabbed her waist and pulled her up against him, her arms made there way around his neck. It felt like magic was controlling them but it didn't matter.

It felt like for the first time Hinata had finally breathed life and in the distance Hinata could hear the sounds of people but she ignored it. The two finally pulled away, their eyes closed and their foreheads resting against one another taking deep breaths.

Hearts pounding and lips touched once more in a gentle touch. Suddenly something brought them both crashing back to earth.

Ino and Sakura felt horribly when Hinata opened her pearly purple eyes and looked around the room to see everyone staring at her. She ran. Shikamaru leaned against the wall breathing harshly before walking out.

Tenten stood up and left her two friends there. She felt rotten.

They had done the worse thing they could think of their to beloved friend.

101

Hinata walked into the room, a floor length white dress, off the shoulder, with a gold cord wrapped around her waist. Gold gladiator sandals wrapped themselves around her leg up to her knee.

Her hair held back in a braid and a small crown on her head.

"Hinata," Ino screamed as she ran up to her friend, "How are you, should you be out?"

Ino was wearing a black and green cheer leading outfit though it was a lot more modest, the skirt was longer and the top wasn't as tight.

Hinata laughed, "I-I'm fine Ino and yes I-I can b-be out."

"You look beautiful Hinata." Ino said while give her a hug and then whispered, "You really do look like a Goddess."

It was long before Sakura and Tenten came running through the crowd, well Sakura was running Tenten was walking behind her.

"Oh my God Hinata, look at you. You're stunning." Sakura gushed over her longtime friend.

"It's been awhile." Tenten said while smiling.

"I-It has, almost four m-months." Hinata said.

Arms suddenly encircled her, "Well, we were traveling." One of his large hands rubbed her swollen stomach.

"W-We wanted to look f-for holiday houses. Before the b-baby comes."

"Can you believe it was four years ago today that you two could together?"

"Yeah, I still don't know what came over me that night." Shikamaru whispered before kissing Hinata's neck.

Ino, Sakura and Tenten shared a look and giggled uncertainly. "Y-Yeah but it's a g-good thing it did."

The girls never did tell the couple, and when they went to return the book the store was gone.


	2. Ghosts and Haunted Houses by Jaggarte

**Title:** Ghosts and Haunted Houses  
**Author:** Jaggarte  
**Rating:** T/PG-13  
**Theme:** Haunting Allure  
**Pairing:** ShikaHina

We ask that you PLEASE refrain from reviewing this story here. If you would like to do so, please visit Jaggarte's DA personal profile.

Shikamaru didn't like things that couldn't be explained.

In fact he hated them.

The quandary of an improbable solution to an impossible circumstance left his head spinning, which made him irritable which, in turn, made him mad.

Which is the emotion he's feeling right now.

"I'm telling you that that house," screamed an incredibly loud Ino while gesticulating wildly at the house sitting to their left, "Is haunted!"

"And I'm telling you that it can't be," a calm Chouji replied back. He turned to Shikamaru with a pleading look, "Come on Shikamaru, tell her it's not haunted."

Instead of replying, the Nara simply scowled and looked to his right, not ready to answer those questions.

It was a beautiful day he should be watching clouds damn it!

The Akimichi could only gawk at the other boy's silence which could mean only one thing.

Chouji shook his head in denial, turning his attention back to his other teammate who had folded her arms and was smugly smiling at him, "No, no, no, it can't be haunted," He turned back to his other friend, unsure, "Can it?"

Sighing out loud, the genius put a hand to his head while digging in his pockets for Asuma's lighter, "I'm not sure Chouji."

"You're not sure, you're not sure?" Chouji loudly asked, not quite certain what this could mean, "What did you guys see in there?"

Ino's arms came down from her chest and her previous look of arrogance was replaced by the warranted emotion of fear.

"It was crazy Chouji, I-I don't think I could go back in."

Shikamaru had finally found his lighter and proceeded to flick the flame on and off to keep his mind centred on fixing this current predicament.

The three had been assigned a mission that had seemed pretty simple at first. They were to clean out a house that was currently full of squatters. Unbeknownst to Tsunade or the team though, was the fact that there were no squatters. The owners had only assumed that simply because the furniture had been moved around, lights had been turning off and on, and noises could be heard from different rooms. Shikamaru didn't blame the people who had commissioned them for this mistake; anyone else would have thought the same.

He had almost assumed the same thing until it became apparent that there was no one in the house.

Chouji had been outside, ready for any stragglers who escaped, and Shikamaru and Ino had gone inside to clear out the rabble.

Upon entering the building though, Shikamaru hadn't felt right, he knew that something was amiss and that he, with Ino and Chouji couldn't complete this mission.

His thoughts were only proven correct when unusual things started happening.

At first he had presumed that it was simply a homeless person who was making the noises in the kitchen but when he slid the door open, he found a sink, a fridge and chairs around a table. But atop the table a long and sharp filleting knife was spinning with its blade pointed down and the handle pointing up at the ceiling.

As soon as Ino had come in and seen it she went still beside him, her body shaking slightly in fear and Shikamaru couldn't help but feel relieved that she hadn't screamed.

Suddenly, as if happy that it had gained their attention, the knife stopped spinning and slammed back on to the table. Before either shinobi could talk, one of the chairs around the table slowly and haltingly slid out and then slammed into the cupboards beneath the sink. It slowly rose and trembled slightly before it fell to the floor with a loud bang.

A slightly perturbed Shikamaru carefully, keeping his eyes on the kitchen, backed away keeping Ino close in behind him and slowly, noiselessly, closed the door. It wasn't a second later when he heard a thunk and he crossed his eyes slightly to see the filleting knife had been thrown at the closed door and was now currently less than a centimetre away from his face.

Ino screamed and ran out of the house while Shikamaru, a little dazed, followed out behind her, casually walking through the smashed glass that came from the light globes around them that had obviously been broken in a previous fit of unexplained phenomena.

They were still standing outside while Ino had explained what had happened to Chouji when Shikamaru felt his anger turn to puzzlement, which in turn made its way to problem solving.

When silence reigned, Shikamaru herded one shaken and one perplexed shinobi to the closest Korean Barbeque. He needed to calm his two teammates and friends and he needed to think through the problem and decide on the best tools needed to complete this mission.

He was sure of one thing though, he needed one person above all else. He needed the Byuukagan, he needed a Hyuuga.

~~~*~~~

"Hinata-san"

Shikamaru called out to the pretty Hyuuga as he caught her talking to Iruka outside the Academy.

She had succeeded in gaining employment there and was teaching with Iruka before she could teach a class on her own. The genius shinobi personally thought that she didn't need to be supervised but if it made everyone happy then who was he to express his opinion?

Turning to him, the Hyuuga heiress smiled quickly before turning back to her sempai to bid him farewell for the day.

Catching himself from smiling back – that wasn't something he made a habit out of doing – the Nara waited patiently while leaning against a tree, watching her as she walked up to him. She was dressed in her usual jacket and pants and in her arms she carried a few folders. Apparently she had some grading to do.

"Good afternoon Shikamaru-san, how are you today?"

"I'm well, thanks for asking Hinata-san," He pushed himself away from the tree and started walking with the young Hyuuga as she made her way home.

"I'm sure you can tell that I'm here for more than a social call." Shikamaru has always played teacher with his friends, spelling out things that seemed obvious to him but with Hinata he felt that he didn't have to do that, somehow, she seemed to understand him.

"Hai, did you need me to do something for you?" She shuffled her books around in her arms, trying to gain better purchase of them before Shikamaru lifted them from her and held them in his arms. Surprised, the young woman blushed prettily before thanking him as they continued to walk. He made a note to try and be nice like that to her again, he liked that look.

"Yeah, Hinata-san," he said, trying to keep his mind on track, "I need your help with a mission."

Facing the road, Shikamaru saw her nod slightly before she spoke. In reality, there was only one thing that she had that he couldn't, in some way, get.

"You need the Byuukagan," she stated matter-of-factly before turning to look at him, "What do you need to see Shikamaru-san?"

"Ghosts," was his reply.

"Ghosts?" she asked, her voice betraying her scepticism.

"Yeah, so are you free tomorrow?"

"Unfortunately I'm not, the children have their tests then."

He could feel her eyes on him as he watched the sun dip over the horizon. He was about to ask her if she knew anyone else when she spoke up again.

"What about tonight?"

Shikamaru was smart, incredibly smart but he was still male and therefore did not want to appear weak in front of this pretty, intelligent girl. If it was Chouji he would have told him that night was not an option for this particular mission. In fact if it was anyone else but Hinata he would have told them that day was the only time he was visiting that house but this was Hinata and he was irrevocably male.

"Sure, what time do you want to meet?"

Her face lit up and she quickened her steps leading her to her home as she hefted her books out of his arms, smiling all the while.

"If you can wait a few moments, I will drop these books off and we can head off straight away."

Unsure of what to make of the shy Hyuuga's sudden want to see ghosts, Shikamaru shrugged and matched her steps till they came to the compound's gates.

"Wait here, Shikamaru-san, I'll be out shortly."

Grunting out a reply, the Nara waited for his new teammate to reappear before heading back, at night, to the haunted house.

He hoped she didn't scream.

~~~*~~~

"So just to make this painfully obvious to you, I need you to see if there is anyone inside this building. I can't see a physical body but if there is something with chakra controlling things or something else, I need to know."

Hinata carefully stepped over the smashed glass at the entrance to the house, nervously eyeing every piece of furniture as she nodded to his request.

Shikamaru had told her of what he and Ino had seen and she was only now becoming a little scared of what this house was capable of doing. He assumed that she had been excited because she had never been to a haunted house before but now that reality was setting in she was becoming frightened at the possibility of something she couldn't see, seeing her.

It freaked him out; it was very plausible that it freaked her out too.

Hinata turned and looked at him, her face calm but her eyes betraying her feelings. She was scared and he felt something inside him want to comfort her.

"I'm sure that it's just someone playing a trick," he watched with satisfaction as she felt relief at his words, "I've never heard of an actual haunting so this must be some kind of practical joke."

"Hai, you're probably right Shikamaru-san," she replied, her eyes taking in more of the house as they made their way to the kitchen, "I'll see if I can see anything then."

Her hands formed the seal necessary for the Byuukagan and he watched as veins appeared at her temples, allowing her second sight to take in the house and its inhabitants.

He waited for a few moments, watching the young Hyuuga slowly walk in a small circle, taking in every centimetre of the house. The hairs on the back of his neck raised when he heard a soft creaking above him and saw Hinata quickly glance up and gasp softly.

"Can you see anything Hinata-san?" He asked, his hand trying to smooth down the feeling at his neck. The vibe he was getting was that someone was watching him and he had learnt very early in life to adhere to what his instincts were telling him.

"H-hai," she answered, her eyes riveted to one particular spot on the ceiling. Her mouth was open slightly and her whole body was tense. Shikamaru started to walk over to her, trying to track with his eyes what she was looking at exactly. When he came to stand directly behind her he found that one part of the ceiling was slightly darker than the rest. He had assumed that it was water damage but with the way that Hinata was staring at it he could tell that it was obviously something more.

Leaning in closer to the Hyuuga, Shikamaru kept his eyes on the spot as he whispered into her ear, "What is it Hinata?"

His eyes came away from the splotch when he felt her turn around and face him, her eyes wide and the veins around her eyes strained. She was very close to him and the Nara had a hard time trying to keep his thoughts completely pure as she whispered back into his ear.

The kunoichi had never seen anything like it. Seeing the cluster of chakra on the ceiling with no apparent connection to any living person or thing gave her chills. What really started to freak her out though, was when she wrenched her eyes away from the clump of chakra to find that the entire room was covered in little dots of it. When she had first activated her Byuukagan, Hinata had seen nothing amiss because the chakra was so infinitesimal but once she had espied the cluster above their heads the other spots became clearer to her evolved sight.

The presence of the genius shinobi behind her leant her comfort and she tried not to be distracted as she turned around and leant into him to whisper back to his question.

"They're everywhere," She whispered, noticing how his muscles tensed as she put a hand to his shoulder, pulling him in closer so she could reach his ear, "I'm not sure if they can hear us or not but they are all over this room."

Shikamaru was stunned, "Chakra? Chakra is all over the room?" He whispered back, putting his hand to her waist to keep her still so they could converse quietly, "But how?"

"I've only seen this with Shino." The young man was starting to understand now what that meant.

"They're bugs aren't they?" He asked her, "Do you know if they're controlled by anyone?"

"I'm not sure," she whispered back, his touch on her hip starting to burn her like her hand on his shoulder, "I think we need to leave before we find out."

Shikamaru nodded but couldn't seem to move himself from the kunoichi.

Hinata pushed her face back from him but not from his grasp. Her eyebrows rose slightly as his fingers tensed around her waist, bringing her closer in to him.

His head ducked back to her ear and he whispered to her, "I think it would be prudent if we put some kind of show on for whoever might be listening."

The heiress gasped and her cheeks blushed a hot red as his words dawned on her.

"W-what do you," she licked her lips, trying to get the right words out, "th-think we should do Sh-Shikamaru?"

"That's good," he replied, happy that she was going along with his plan, "refer to me like that and they'll be fooled." He watched the blush spread over her face and had the briefest thought that all this trouble had been worth it to see the Hyuuga heiress like this. He continued to whisper into her neck, looking to the world as a loving boyfriend, and gave her instructions on what to do next.

Slowly, with the blush still staining her cheeks and neck, Hinata slid her hand down from his shoulder to his hip as they walked side by side out of the door and into the cool night air. She had adopted a very girly, airy laugh as they walked away from the house and down a couple of blocks before they were happy that they weren't being watched.

Shikamaru thought that he liked her real laugh better, better than the airs and graces that she had learnt from Ino and Sakura.

Dropping her hand abruptly from his hip, the shy young Hyuuga looked to the ground and shifted her feet.

The young Nara more slowly than her, slid his hand from her waist, not happy with having to give up her warmth from his side. He never thought that he would be taken by a woman so quickly and had never thought that it would have been Hyuuga Hinata of all people.

But he had and tonight had shown that she was not unresponsive to him either.

Hopefully this wouldn't become too troublesome.

Hinata watched as the spiky haired young man seemed to weigh up different thoughts in his head and she couldn't help but become enamoured by him. Stopping her feelings from evolving too far without further thought, she started to walk home, hoping that he would walk with her.

He didn't disappoint as he started walking by her side, his head staring at the pavement as a hundred thoughts seemed to crowd around in his head.

Looking for something to say to him, Hinata kept walking as she turned to the young Nara, "So what are you going to do now Shikamaru?"

Caught unawares by her familiar phrasing, the shinobi stopped in his tracks and smiled at the kunoichi for the first time. "Well Hinata," he stressed the informality and the young woman smiled beatifically at him, making him re-evaluate his thoughts on this becoming troublesome, "I guess there's only one thing we can do. But we can't tell Shino."

Hinata had also stopped and watched as Shikamaru started walking again and passed by her, smiling slyly at her before looking to the sky.

"It's time to call an exterminator."

Hinata laughed and ran to catch up to him. The smile never left her face and only grew as the young Nara boy took the young Hyuuga woman's arm in his and escorted her home, away from the chakra-bug-infested home and into a night full of promise and trouble.

Because isn't new love always troublesome?


End file.
